Machine for sewing round-eye buttonholes



April 21, 1925.

wTNEs Es.. y M f? April 21, 1925. 1,534,017

E. B. ALLEN MACHINE FOR SEWING lROUND EYE BU'ITONHOLES Filed Jan. 9, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR wmssl .u BY 1 VM? m April 21, 192s. 1,534,017v

E. B. ALLEN MACHINE FOR SEWING ROUND EYE BUTTONHOLES Filed Jan. 9', 1924 s sheets-sheet s r "A JJV" x. Ss V 4 y `l-1u`dr` r t" *f m a r MEL" ATIORNEY Y BY WI NESS r 'I l ret.

Patented him 2l, w25.

EDN/YARD B. ALLEN, OF NEWTQW, C'DlNEC-TC'T, ASSGNGR T0 THE SNGER MANU- FACTURING CGMPA Y, O33 ,llf A GB/POEATION OF NEW" JERSEY.

IEIACI-INE FUE SEW'ING BQUND-EZE BTTONHOLES..

Application iled January 9, 1924. Serial No. 635,101.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, EDWARD B. ALLEN, a citizen of thek United States, residing; at Newtown, in the county oi' llairiield and Statev of Connecticut, have iii-vented certain new and, useful lmprovements in liachines for Sewing BoundEye Buttonliolcs,V of Whichl ,the following,` is a specification, refereneebeinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention has for an object to provide a buttonholesewing machine 'for set-ying; round Veye buttonholes With an overseam oi substantially uniform `Width and appearance.

Buttonhole sewing- Vmachines are coinnionly constructec. with f mechanism and rework-holder with provision for relative movement betweenthem to carry the serving around the buitonhole-slit.y

In clothbuttonhole machines the stitchiorming mechanism usually comprises an upper reciprocating and laterally jogging needle which cooperates with suitable underthread mechanism mounted in a lrotary turrlhe needle-bar and turront are connected for turning moven'ients in sewing around the eye of the buttonhole.

Heretofore it has been the practice to hold the turret of theostitch-forming` mechanism in a lined position with the plane of vihra-V tion of the needle normal to the center line or stem of the bottonlio-le slit as the sewing progresses along the lirst side of the buttonhole and the iiist quarter of the eye; i. e., until the sewing hasr reached a point even l with the center oi" the circular part of the eye. 'l1 he stitch-forming mechanism is then rotated. 180,9 as the stitches v.are laid around the semi-circular second and third quarters of the eyed. Rotation of the stitch-forming mechanism is then stopped Withthe -plane of vibrationgotthe needle again normal to the centerline of the buttonhole vas the sewing progresses along the last quarter oi? the'eye and `down the return side of the bottonhole. ln' other Woidsl buttonholes 'sewn byniachineslofthe prior art have had the stitches laidVv substantially normal to the centerline of thebuttonhole.along thestem oct the buttonhole-slit and the iirst and'lastquarters ottheeye. Buttonholes having elongated pear-shaped :eyesniay be satisfactorily sewn in accordance- With the .practice abovey out lined. While, retainin 0', a suhstantall y ,uni-

stitch-'forming buttonhole, as heretofore.

forni Width o1" overseain.. At least-the departure from normal Width of overseam is not objectionable along the first and last quarters of the eye. slierten the eye of the buttoiiholc, however, and make it more nearly circular and` less peai-shaped, as often demanded by the trade, it is found thatjthe .elective Width ofthe In attempting toVK overseam along the irst and last quarters;`V`

ci the eye, as sewn iii accordance-1 Withthe customary practicaisso reduced as to con# tract unavorably With the ividthrofy the ovei'seain along the buttonhole-slit and around the second and third quarters of the:

eye. Y Y Accordingl to the present improvement, as the sewing starts, the plane of vibration oit the needle stands normaly to the center line oi the buttonhole, as heretoore, but provision is made for reversely rotating the stitch-forming mechanism as the sewing approaches the eye of the buttonhole so that when the eye is reached the planeet vibration of the needle stands at such an angleto anism ivas initially reversely rotated. o After.

the final eyeeformino,` stitches are laid the stitch-orninig mechanism is reversely rotated duringl the sewing` along` the return side of the buttonliole until the lplaner-,0f

vibration ci the needle aomin stands:normall D La Y to the buttonhole-slit. By.. inversely rotating the stitch-forming,` mechanisme, asv above pointed out, thespacing of thedepth stitches will be reduced along the stern portionstof the overseain adjacent the initial and-.final-l eyefstitches. rl`he edect of tliisreduction in spacing of the depthestitches ,is .to bunch such stitches at the apex of the aligleiivhere lthe stein and eye stitches meet, thereby iGO forming strong anchorages at thesepoints;`

`for holding sharp bends in the,coiidand thus accentuating` thedesired circular ap pearance oit the eye. After the seW-ingg'is completed, the stitchetorniing mechanismis or may be, reverselyfrotateddo to `nestone;

it to initial'position ready for the next seW- f in@- operation.

in the accompanying drawings, Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective view oli a buttonthe corded tace of the brittonhole illustrated in Fig. 5.

ln the embodiment olf the invention illustrated, i Vrepresents the flranie bed or' a huttonhole sewing machine which, except as hereinafter specified, preferably embodies the constructive features disclosed in iny Patent No. 15,324, reissued April 4C, 1922.

Rising troni the bed l is the standard 2 oi" the overhenging bracket-arm 8 which terininatos 1n the head il.

prise the reciproeating` and laterally liegging; needle 'and under thread-looping devices G preferably constructed substantially in accordance with the disclosure (t the Lillen et Faulkner Patent No. 3.2? March i921.' The needle 5 as 'usual in the block 7 which jens onV the horizontal support-ing,v pin 8 by the needle-ber 9 inounted in the 1 n u Y b movements; the latter being derivedt from the sector-gear l() Wlnehnieshes With pinion' ll Vceaxially connected with xhe needle-bar. The under threerl-loopingv de! impart reverse turning movements to the stitch-forming' .mechanism innnediately prior and subsequent to the eye-stitching operation and to this end has the Vusuel concentrie portion, between the points 23 and Q4,

Fig'. 2, Which holds the stitch-forining` incoh-V anisin With the plane of vibration of' the,V

needle normal to the buttonhole-slit while the huttonhole. point 25 the earn-groove recedes ifroin'the center c of the eed-wheel to impart the ini# which de-Y The loiver arm it cur-v tial reverse turning movement to the stitchi'orining' mechanism as the sowing.;l approaches the eye ot' the vhuttenhole. The eye-serving begins as the point engages 'the lolloiver roll 2O and frein the point 2:3

tothe. point Q6 the cam-groove 2l, approaches the center c, and turns the stitchtorniing mechanism in the normal direction as the sewing proceeds around the edge or the buttonhole. lron'ithe point 52o' tothe point E27 the cani-groove 2l again receclcs 'from the center c and inigarts a reverse turning movement to the stitch-'formiun` Ylnechnnnisin following.,r the eye-seivino operation. From the point 27 to the point 9 the `cani-groove 2l is concentric and holds the stitch-termin mechanism with the plane of vibration .of the needle normal to the buttonhole-sht the sewing' continues tothe end ot' Vthe second side of the buttonhole. Frein the -point Q8 to the starting` point 23 the cam-groove 2l recedes from the center c and imparts a reverse turning movement to the stitch-forming'.mechanism after the sow# infY is cein'oleted to restore the carts to inib L 7 L tial position ready ror the next buttonhole The stitch-forming insti-unientalities conn sewing operation.

It Will be understood that the machine is or may be equipped with the usual Workholder, indicated generally et 2), Which slides longitudinally of ,the bed l und is actuated from the feedeivlieel Q2 'through the usual connections.

Referring' 'to Fig, B, which illustrates diagrauiniaticelly the upper or ueedletlncad side of the usual pear-shaped ejvecnd or a. buttonhole, it will be eeen that the dot-anddash lines Whichreprescnt the plane of vibration of the needle stand normal to the center line of the buttonhole 'as the serving proceeds in the direction oit the arrows around the irst and quarters o'tf the eye. This is in accordance with the customary practice.v It Will he seen that with the cxtent of vibration of the needle niaiiitained constant, the'ividth ot the overseam around the first and last quarters el the eye is not noticeably or objection ably narrowed as conipared tothe Width oli the overseaui :ilo the stein or around the second aud third Quarters ot the eye,

Villien the length of the eye. however. is reduced and inade more nearly circular and Vless pear-shaped, as shown in Fin'. "l, the Width of the oversealn around the iii-st' and lastquarters of the eye is noticeably reduced and contrasts untavorably with the over- 'seained portions aloneV the stein and around the second "and third quarters of the eye, giving the eye as a Whole a distorted ap- In 'accordancefivith the present improvement, Fig. 5, the plane of vibration of the needle stands normal to the centerline of the buttonhole from' the beginning point s i along the major portion of the first side of the an gula-r the buttonhole and until the sewing reaches the point a close to the eye. F rom a to t) the stitch-forming mechanism is gradually reversely turned through an angle of say 24o so that when the eye is reached the plane of vibration of the needle will stand more nearly normal to the edge of the eye at the first quarter of the eye of the buttonhole, instead of normal to the center line of the buttonhcle, as heretofore. The angular position of the stitch-forming mechanism is retained in sewing fromV to CZ and then the stitch-forming' mechanism is rotated in the normal direction, in sewing around the eye from (Z to e, but through an angle of 1800 plus double the angle 24o of initial reverse rotation, or 2280 in all. From c to the angular position of the stitch-forming` mechanism is retained and from to kg the stitch-forming mechanism is again reversely rotated through an angle of 240 to bring .the plane of vibration of the needle again normal to the center line of the buttonholc for sewing along the remaining and major portion of the second side of the buttonhole to the ending pointl t.

By providing a buttonhole sewing machine with means for reverscly rotating the stitch-forming` mechanism in the manner described, the eye of the buttonhole is given a uniformly overseamed appearance and is of the desired circular shape. The depth stitches from a to b and f to g and particularly at the points .and are crowded topgn-Ether7 Figs. 5 and 6, and form firm anchorage around which the cord 7iA is sharply bent to accentuate the desired circular appearance ofthe eye. lt will be understood that amount of reverse rotat-ionof the stitch-forming mechanism is not critical and that the preferred amount is specified herein in an illustrative and not a limitingr sense.

rl`he buttonhole produced by the machine may be characterized as includingan overseam embracing the cord 7i on one face of the fabric and having a needle thread disposed in zigzag arrangement on the other face of the fabric. From the point s to the point a, Fig. 5, the sum of the inner angles s minus the sum of the outer angles s2 is zero since the stitch-forming mechanism is not rotated Lin sewing the majo-r portion of the stem of the buttonhole. From a to b the sum of the inner angles a minus the sum of the outer angles a2 is a negative angle of 24 since the stitch-forming mechanism is reversely or negatively rotated through an angle of 240 in sewing` the stem stitches immediately adjacent the eye. From o to (Z there is no rotation of the stitch-forming mechanism and the difference of the sums of the inner and outer angles is again zero. From (Z to e the sum of the inner angles d minus the sum of the outer angles cl2 is a positive angle of 2280, and so on to the point t, as will be readily understood. The stem end of the buttonhole may, of course, be iinished off or barred in any desired manner.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, What I claim herein is l. An eyelet-end butonhole sewing machine having stitch-forming mechanism and a Work-holder with means for relatively rotatinpr the stitch-forming mechanism and Work-holder in sewing` around the eye-end of a buttonhole and for reversely relatively rotating the stitch-forming mechanism and Work-holder in sewing the side stitches immediately adjacent the eye-stitches.

2. An eyelet-end buttonhole serving kmachine havinga Work-holder and rotary stitch-forming mechanism including means for rotatingl the stitch-forming mechanism in sewing' around the eye-end of a buttonhole and for reversely rotating the stitchforming mechanism immediately prior and subsequent to the eye-sewing operation and while sewing the side stitches immediately adjacent the eye-stitches.

3. ein eyelct-end buttonhole sewing machine having a Work-holder and rotary stitch-forming` mechanism .including means for rotating the stitch-forming mechanism in sewing around the eye-end of a buttonhole and for r'eversely rotating the stitchforming mechanism immediately prior and subsequent to the eye-sewing operation and While sewing' the sidestitches immediately adjacent. the eye-stitches, the angle of rotation of the stitch-forming mechanism in sewing around the eye being substantially 1800 plus the sum of the angles of reverse rotation given the stitch-forming mechanism While sewing said side stitches.

fn testimony whereof, I'have signed my name to this specification.

EDW'ARD B. ALLEN. 

